Rory McEwen

A retrospective of the pioneering botanical painter Rory McEwen, whose precise pictures of the natural world were infused with a Pop art sensibility.

Rory McEwen, Tulip 'Helen Jospehine', 1975

Image courtesy of the Estate of Rory McEwen

Ostensibly Rory McEwen was described as a botanical painter, yet his pictures were pure Pop art. Uncompromising in their perfection and in the intensity of their colours, he understood the radical concepts of Pop art and embraced the slick, commercial appeal in his art, creating, in the process, a series of extraordinary works that revealed the abstract beauty of plants. This is the first major retrospective of McEwen’s art since his premature death in 1982 and introduces a new generation to an almost forgotten figure in the history of British art.